


The Velvet Bride

by frausorge



Series: Bad Weather Friend [3]
Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-10
Updated: 2010-05-10
Packaged: 2017-10-09 09:40:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frausorge/pseuds/frausorge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julia woke up alone in a bedroom she didn't recognize.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Velvet Bride

**Author's Note:**

  * For [e](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=e).



> Title from Pink Floyd. Happy birthday to someone whose encouragement on this whole thing has meant a lot to me.

Julia woke up alone in a bedroom she didn't recognize. It was daylight, though, maybe early afternoon, so she could look around with no trouble, and the piles of jeans and sneakers and Clan shirts heaped up all over made it obvious the room was Pete's.

She got up and looked out the window, but it was just a neighborhood, swanky houses and generous backyards sprawling down a hill. There was a bathroom beyond an open door, so she went in and peed. While she was sitting there, she rubbed a little at the new tattoos on her arms and sighed. After she'd washed her hands she took a good long look in the mirror, ran her fingers once through her scrubby hair, and sighed again.

There was a pink bra on top of one of the clothes piles, and a pale blue French-cut T-shirt on the end of the bed, and neither of them was her size. Julia left on the black shirt and gray sweatpants that she'd woken up in and padded barefoot down the stairs.

She could hear the clatter of dishes from down the hall, so she headed in that direction. When she turned around the archway, she saw Ashlee at the other end of the room, putting a bowl into the microwave. Julia stopped and leaned against the wall.

"Hey, babe," Ashlee said, closing the door and pressing the buttons. Then she turned around. "Oh," she said. "Um." She lifted her hand and brushed some loose strands of hair back behind her ear. "Uh, hi, uh- Julia?"

Julia sagged back against the wall for a moment. Then she pushed off it and stepped forward. "Hi," she said. "How's it going?"

"Uh," Ashlee said, pushing her hair back once more. "Um, well, I was just fixing some lunch. Are you hungry?"

Julia shrugged. "I could eat," she said. She pulled out one of the stools and sat down at the island. Ashlee was still staring at her. Julia lifted her chin and looked back.

"Oh, shit, I'm being weird," Ashlee said. "Sorry. It's just, like, I know Jason pretty well by now, you know? But I don't know you."

That was fair. Julia nodded. "So-" she said, and the microwave beeped. Ashlee turned and pulled out the bowl of noodles.

"You want these?" she said. "I can make some more."

"Okay."

Julia waited till the second bowl was done and Ashlee had sat down across from her. "So," she said then, "how'd you find out about us? Did Jason tell you? Or did you figure it out yourself?"

Ashlee blew on the noodles wrapped around her fork. "No, I wish I could say I did, but I didn't. I mean, I knew something was up - there's been a lot of stuff that got me thinking. But I didn't really get it until Pete told me. "

"_Pete_ told you?"

"Yeah." Ashlee glanced down, and her lips curved up. "He said he usually never told anyone, not even his girlfriends, but if I was going to decide whether to marry him then I ought to know."

"You - he proposed?" Julia said.

"Yup," Ashlee said. Her smile was broad and clear now. "And we had the wedding a few months after. I know, it's definitely way sooner than I'd thought, but when we found out I was pregnant-"

"You're _pregnant_?"

Ashlee paused, pressing her lips together. "Well, not anymore," she said. "Bronx is thirteen months old."

Julia hooked her fingers under the rim of the counter and held on.

"Um. Sorry to spring that on you," Ashlee said.

Julia waved the apology away and picked her fork back up. Ashlee started eating again too, darting glances at Julia between bites.

"I just didn't realize it's been that long," Julia said. Ashlee nodded.

They ate in silence for a while. Ashlee stopped watching Julia and just ate her lunch, which meant Julia could take a break from watching Ashlee, too. The house was quiet around them, and the breeze coming in the open windows was soft and cool.

"So," Ashlee said after they'd finished, "what do you want - I mean, what are you going to do now?"

_Mom, Joe, Mikey,_ Julia thought automatically, but the idea of getting on the phone felt strangely unappealing. She was kind of tired, despite what must have been a midday nap, and the house's stillness was peaceful. She just wanted to go on sitting in the high-ceilinged kitchen with Ashlee sitting companionably across from her.

"I dunno," she said.

Ashlee didn't press her, just picked up the empty bowls and began rinsing them in the sink. She was loading the dishwasher when a short sob sounded from upstairs, followed by a longer, louder one.

"There he is," Ashlee said. "Wow, he slept for a long time today. I'm gonna go get him up - you wanna come meet him?"

"Um," Julia said. "Okay."

She followed Ashlee back upstairs to a room farther down the hallway. The baby was standing up in his crib, holding onto the top rail. He cried even louder when he saw Ashlee push the door open, but stopped when she picked him up.

"Here's Bronx!" Ashlee said, more to him than to Julia. "Here he is, here's my little man. How're you doing, baby? Do you need a change?" She lifted him up and took a whiff of his diaper. "Oh yeah, it's definitely time for a change."

"Mama," he said.

Julia hung back while Ashlee took the old diaper off and wiped the baby clean, but the whole process went quite quickly.

"My sister thinks Bronx looks just like Pete," Ashlee said, "but he totally has my nose. My birth nose," she clarified at Julia's glance. "Looks way better on a boy, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, maybe," Julia said.

When the new diaper was safely on, Ashlee sat down in the gliding rocker, flipped her shirt and bra cup open, and brought the baby's head to her breast. "There you go, you little poop machine," she said. Julia couldn't help but giggle. Ashlee ducked her head and shrugged.

Julia sat down on a wooden chair next to the crib and propped her feet up on a toy box. Ashlee smoothed the baby's hair back from his face.

"When Pete told you," Julia said, "what did you say?"

"I, um." Ashlee pursed her lips, flicking a glance up at Julia. "Well, first I asked him a bunch of questions, to make sure I was understanding him right. And so I thought about it, and then I told him, you know, I'm in love with him, and we hadn't been together all that long, but it was going really good. And between Pete's tours and mine, it's not like we could be together all the time anyway - and at least Jason could stop making up all those stupid excuses for not wanting to fuck me. And, uh, you too, I guess, if you ever..."

Julia swung her gaze back up to Ashlee's face and shook her head.

"Well, anyway. I wanted to be with Pete, and I wanted to be with my baby's dad, for however much we can be together. So I said yes."

Julia bit her lip. Then she smoothed her face out again fast, but Ashlee was smiling at the memory, not watching her.

"And Pete was being all - Pete, still thinking everything was going to be fucked up. So I said don't worry, you still win, 'cause you've got three people in your body and I only have two. And then he laughed and he kissed me and said okay, let's do it."

Ashlee halted and looked up. "And jeeze, ramble much? Sorry. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"More or less," Julia said.

Ashlee studied her for another minute, but Julia didn't volunteer anything else. Then the baby let Ashlee's nipple go, and she busied herself wiping his face and fixing her clothes.

"Yeah, so, this is Bronx!" Ashlee said when he was resettled on her knee, looking out around the room. "Bronx, baby, this is someone you haven't met yet. This is your Aunt Julia."

Bronx looked over at Julia with round eyes and burped again. Ashlee laughed.

"You wanna hold him?" she said. "Here," and she stood up and plopped him onto Julia's lap without waiting for an answer. Julia curved her arms around his little body to hold him upright.

"Hi, Bronx," she said.

"Say 'hi, Julia,'" Ashlee prompted.

"Duya," Bronx said.

Julia found herself smiling.


End file.
